March 1997 lunar eclipse

Partial Lunar Eclipse
March 24, 1997

Hayward, California, 4:45 UT

The Moon passes right to left through the Earth's northern shadow.
Series (and member) 132 (29 of 71)
Gamma 0.4899
Magnitude 0.9195
Duration (hr:mn:sc)
Partial 3:23:03
Penumbral 5:53:54
Contacts
P1 1:42:26 UTC
U1 2:57:55 UTC
Greatest 4:39:26 UTC
U4 6:20:58 UTC
P4 7:36:21 UTC

A partial lunar eclipse took place on Monday, March 24, 1997, the first of two lunar eclipses in 1997.

This partial lunar eclipse was nearly total; however, it occurred 3 days after the lunar apogee, so the umbral shadow is smaller.

This was the 29th member of Lunar Saros 132, and the last of the first set of partial eclipses. The next event was the April 2015 lunar eclipse, which was the first of 12 total eclipses.

This eclipse was the third of an almost tetrad (that occurred when there were 4 consecutive lunar eclipses that had an umbral eclipse magnitude of 0.9 or greater). The others were 04 Apr 1996 (T), 27 Sep 1996 (T) and 16 Sep 1997 (T).

Visibility

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This eclipse was completely visible from North and South America, and visible setting over Western Europe and Africa.

 
This simulated view of the Earth from the Moon at greatest eclipse shows the visibility.
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Eclipses of 1997

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Lunar year series

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This was the third of four lunar year eclipses at the ascending node of the Moon's orbit.

The lunar year series repeats after 12 lunations or 354 days (Shifting back about 10 days in sequential years). Because of the date shift, the Earth's shadow will be about 11 degrees west in sequential events.

Lunar eclipse series sets from 1995–1998
Ascending node   Descending node
Saros
Photo
Date
Viewing
Type
Chart
Gamma Saros
Photo
Date
Viewing
Type
Chart
Gamma
112 1995 Apr 15
 
Partial
 
−0.95939 117 1995 Oct 08
 
Penumbral
 
1.11794
122
 
1996 Apr 04
 
Total
 
−0.25339 127
1996 Sep 27
 
Total
 
0.34264
132
 
1997 Mar 24
 
Partial
 
0.48990 137 1997 Sep 16
 
Total
 
−0.37684
142 1998 Mar 13
 
Penumbral
 
1.19644 147 1998 Sep 06
 
Penumbral
 
−1.10579
Last set 1994 May 25 Last set 1994 Nov 18
Next set 1999 Jan 31 Next set 1998 Aug 08

Saros series

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Lunar saros series 132, repeating every 18 years and 11 days, has a total of 71 lunar eclipse events including 44 umbral lunar eclipses (32 partial lunar eclipses and 12 total lunar eclipses).

Greatest First
 
The greatest eclipse of the series will occur on 2123 Jun 9, lasting 106 minutes.[1]
Penumbral Partial Total Central
1492 May 12
 
1636 Aug 16
 
2015 Apr 4
 
2069 May 6
 
Last
Central Total Partial Penumbral
2177 Jul 11
 
2213 Aug 2
 
2429 Dec 11
 
2754 Jun 26
 

There are 11 series events between 1901 and 2100, grouped into threes (called an exeligmos), each column with approximately the same viewing longitude on earth.

1901–2100
1907 Jan 29 1925 Feb 8 1943 Feb 20
           
1961 Mar 2 1979 Mar 13 1997 Mar 24
           
2015 Apr 4 2033 Apr 14 2051 Apr 26
           
2069 May 6 2087 May 17
       

Inex series

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The inex series repeats eclipses 20 days short of 29 years, repeating on average every 10571.95 days. This period is equal to 358 lunations (synodic months) and 388.5 draconic months. Saros series increment by one on successive Inex events and repeat at alternate ascending and descending lunar nodes.

This period is 383.6734 anomalistic months (the period of the Moon's elliptical orbital precession). Despite the average 0.05 time-of-day shift between subsequent events, the variation of the Moon in its elliptical orbit at each event causes the actual eclipse time to vary significantly. It is a part of Lunar Inex series 35.

Series events from 1500–2500
Descending node Ascending node Descending node Ascending node
Saros Date
Chart
Saros Date
Chart
Saros Date
Chart
Saros Date
Chart
115 1505 Feb 18
 
116 1534 Jan 30
 
117 1563 Jan 9 118 1591 Dec 30
119 1620 Dec 9 120 1649 Nov 19 121 1678 Oct 29 122 1707 Oct 11
123 1736 Sep 20 124 1765 Aug 30 125 1794 Aug 11 126 1823 Jul 23
127 1852 Jul 1 128 1881 Jun 12 129 1910 May 24
 
130 1939 May 3
 
131 1968 Apr 13
 
132 1997 Mar 24
 
133 2026 Mar 3
 
134 2055 Feb 11
 
135 2084 Jan 22
 
136 2113 Jan 2 137 2141 Dec 13 138 2170 Nov 23
139 2199 Nov 2 140 2228 Oct 14 141 2257 Sep 24 142 2286 Sep 3
143 2315 Aug 16 144 2344 Jul 26 145 2373 Jul 5 146 2402 Jun 16
147 2431 May 27 148 2460 May 5
 
149 2489 Apr 16
 

Tritos series

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Tzolkinex

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Half-Saros cycle

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A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (a half saros).[2] This lunar eclipse is related to two total solar eclipses of Solar Saros 139.

March 18, 1988 March 29, 2006
   
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See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Listing of Eclipses of series 132
  2. ^ Mathematical Astronomy Morsels, Jean Meeus, p.110, Chapter 18, The half-saros
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